Website www.jddickerson1904vidaliaga.com

 Email: brendaga1953@gmail.com

Professor James DeWitt Dickerson   

June 22, 1876 - September 15,1947

Gussie P. Hart Dickerson      

August 10, 1889  -  October 28, 1956

Professor James DeWitt Dickerson was a graduate of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia.  He came to Vidalia, Georgia September 1904.  Born in Louisville, Georgia to parents Mr. Charlie and Mrs. Eliza Collier Dickerson.  He converted Odd Fellow Hall located on the west side of McIntosh Street near Pine and Everette Streets into a one room school for 24 ungraded students.  His wife Mrs. Gussie P. Hart-Dickerson joined him as the second teacher in the school. 

The Professors salary was only $40.00 per month for eight months while white teachers were paid about $227.00 per month.  The annual salary for Mr. Dickerson was $320.00.  The Professor  was instrumental in securing the support of the Vidalia black and white communities to build an adequate building for black children.  This encouraged the Julius Rosenwald Fund to aid in the construction of a two story school building on Third Avenue for black students in 1918-1919.

We continue to research information about the Professor. If you have any pertinent information on the Professor or our other principals and teachers, please contact:

912-585-6084     912-246-8322     

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Thank you.

Brenda "Dallas" Spivey, Historian

Dickersonian Site Founder/Designer/Administrator